Mumbai: A timely half-century by opener Lendl Simmons and some quality bowling helped Mumbai Indians secure a place in the Indian Premier League final with a 25-run victory over Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.
Simmons rose to the occasion as he scored 65 off 51 balls backed up by Kieron Pollard's 17-ball 41 to help Mumbai post a challenging 187/6.
In reply, Chennai lost wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 162 in 19 overs.
With the win, Mumbai made it through to the Eden Gardens finale in Kolkata on Sunday.
Chennai will get a second chance to make it to the final, facing the winner of the Eliminator, to be played on Wednesday between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, in Qualifier 2 in Ranchi on Friday.
Lasith Malinga (3/23), Harbhajan Singh (2/26) and R. Vinay Kumar (2/26) were the pick of the Mumbai bowlers.
Chasing 188 to win, CSK got off to a difficult start losing opener Dwayne Smith without scoring off the fourth ball of the first over.
A full toss from pacer Malinga hit straight into Smith's front pad, which made it easy for the umpire to give the batsman out.
Incoming batsman Faf du Plessis looked in fine form right from the start. The South African, along with opener Michael Hussey, didn't let the early wicket affect the run rate. With a couple of boundaries and sixes, CSK reached 46 in 5 overs.
But the very first ball of the sixth over put the brakes in Chennai's scoring as bowler Kumar got the vital wicket of Hussey (16).
Suresh Raina and Du Plessis took it from there to help the team reach 86/2 in 10 overs.
But the over that followed saw the match swing in the home side's favour as Harbhajan got rid of Raina (25) and skipper M.S. Dhoni (0) in successive deliveries to help Mumbai stay in the hunt.
The Mumbai bowlers kept it tight, making it difficult for the visitors to score.
Set batsman Du Plessis (45 off 34 balls), looking to up the scoring rate, departed in the 14th over off the bowling of Jagadeesha Suchith.
It wasn't over yet. Dwayne Bravo (20), Ravindra Jadeja (19) and Pawan Negi (3) all fell thereafter.
Earlier, opting to bat, Mumbai got off to a modest start with openers Simmons and Parthiv Patel taking their time to get settled in the first four overs, scoring just 22.
Simmons broke the shackles in the fifth over, hitting spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for two sixes.
The over set the momentum for the home side as both openers struck the ball sweetly to all parts of the park, bringing up the team's 50 in 6.2 overs.
Simmons, who is Mumbai's leading run-scorer in this season, once again proved his worth, bringing up his half-century off just 38 balls.
The West Indies man also became the third batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and J.P. Duminy to score five half-centuries in an IPL season for Mumbai.
A bowling change by skipper Dhoni worked wonders for CSK as Bravo got Parthiv caught at long off for 35. Mumbai were 90/1 in 10.4 overs.
Simmons (65 off 51 balls) was looking good for a big score, but fell in the 14th over off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja.
Skipper Rohit Sharma (19), Hardik Pandya (1) and Ambati Rayudu (10) all went back to the pavilion in the space of four overs.
Kieron Pollard chipped in with a crucial late cameo to help Mumbai reach a challenging score.
